Comments on: Candlelight Woodworking???

By: Continuing My Pledge: Neanderthal Boxes II

Continuing My Pledge: Neanderthal Boxes II — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:16:43 +0000

[...] Candlelight Woodworking??? [...]

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:56:43 +0000

Thanks for the comment everyone. I figured I would use my tenon saw to cut the outlines and chisel in between. I am planning on making pretty fine splines though so probably won’t be much chiseling. Jeremy great idea with the old beater saw. Stephen, I knew this post would solicit something from you and as always you are full of innovative ideas. Gotta try that mirror trick.

Mark, old habits die hard and I just kept thicknessing. I did however bevel the edges to fit the groove since it was just shy of 1/8″. Mainly though the groove is set only an 1/8 up from the bottom of the box and I was trying to maximize interior space so a rabbetted panel would cut back on that space. This is all hindsight though as honestly I didn’t really think about it at the time. As I said old habits die hard.

By: Mark Mazzo

Mark Mazzo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:19:03 +0000

Shannon,

I guess the best way to cut the recesses for the keys is with the back saw and equal to the width of the smallest chisel you have. Then chisel out the waste.

One question…why thickness the bottom to 1/8″ why not just use a rabbet around the edge or just “raise” the panel with a bevel to fit the groove?

–Mark
The Craftsman’s Path

By: Luke Townsley

Luke Townsley — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:09:01 +0000

Welcome to world too. But for different reasons. You see, the power goes out on a daily basis for hours here in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Stephen, that is a neat trick with the globe to focus light. I may find myself trying that one day.

By: Stephen Shepherd

Stephen Shepherd — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:14:48 +0000

Welcome to my world. Candles and grease lamps can be a good source of light but you have to use caution. On more than one occasion shavings have caught fire on the bench, I keep a bucket of sand for that purpose, water gets stuff wet and freezes solid in the winter.

I use a framed wall mirror 16 by 20 inches on my workbench to see the backside of dovetails when cutting, and I also use it to double the light from candles. For real fine work I have a clear glass globe filled with water that acts as a large lens to magnify and concentrate the light on one area.

If you had a fro you could have rived the bottom then surfaced it to thickness, if the grain cooperates.

Stephen

By: Jeremy Kriewaldt

Jeremy Kriewaldt — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:47:54 +0000

To cut the splines – two cuts with your dovetail saw, chisel out in between with an 1/8″ chisel
OR – cut once with your fine dovetail saw and then take the old 3.5 ppi rip saw with the wide set ($5 in every garage sale) and use it to cut a 1/8″ kerf slot using the first cut to guide it. (this little black duck has even taken a tenon saw that was about to go out – jointed off the teeth and then cut 3.5 ppi teeth on it and put a wide set to do exactly that – that’s why they let old saws get tired, so you can experiment.)

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:19:18 +0000

Well I’ve done that by hand but it was definitely the hard way! Check it out though – you might come up with a better idea: http://adventuresinwoodworking.com/2008/04/28/t-keys/